Two-foot-long alligator caught, killed in MU’s South Farm Lake

A 26-inch American alligator was caught in South Farm Lake in southeast Columbia. Phil Pitts and Kevin Hempen remove the alligator from gill nets that were used in its capture.¦ TYSON ANDERSON

BY
JACLYN DEWEESE

COLUMBIA­ — Popping its head out of water, only to disappear a few minutes later, a 2-foot-long American alligator teased conservation department officials Friday in what looked like a game of hide and seek.

A local fisherman told the Missouri Department of Conservation on Wednesday that he had spotted the alligator at MU’s South Farm Lake, just off U.S. 63 south of Columbia. The lake, which is open to the public, is managed by the conservation department.

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Missouri Department of Conservation workers attempted to catch the alligator live using nets but it drowned after it became caught in the nets. The American alligator, native to the southeasten United States was thought to be illegally transplanted to the lake.

“We speculate that the alligator was somebody’s pet,” said Craig Gemming, Fisheries Management Biologist for the department. “They’re not native to Missouri, and they won’t be able to survive.”

The American Alligator, a native to the southeast portion of the U.S., weighed in at 2 pounds and measured a little over 2 feet long. Full-grown alligators can weigh up to 600 pounds and grow up to 18 feet long.

“It wouldn’t hurt anybody,” Gemming said.

Scott Voney, Kevin Hempen and Randy White, all of the conservation department, spent nearly four hours Friday working to catch the alligator.

The officials first used a weighted gill net to corner the reptile. But when the its head popped up outside of the net, it seemed as if it had outsmarted the trappers.

“I’m not sure, but I think I heard him laughing when he came up,” said Voney of the elusive alligator.

For the next attempt, Hempen paddled back out and added a second net outside the first one. Once the nets were in place, the trappers pulled them closer to shore, while watching where the gator would surface next. When the nets were about 5 to 10 feet apart, Hempen waded through the middle, trying to stir the alligator.

Hempen, shoulder-deep in water, wasn’t concerned even when he realized the alligator was eye level with him.

“Hey Randy, you want to get my snorkel?” Hempen asked.

Billy Ware and Mike Hanauer were fishing when they noticed the commotion.